Adib K. Kanafani, professor and chair of the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, and computer sciences professor Christos H. Papadimitriou are among the 74 new members and seven foreign associates elected to the academy. Both professors are in the campus's College of Engineering.

Their election brings to 86 the total number of UC Berkeley faculty members in this prestigious society. Among academic institutions, UC Berkeley maintains one of the highest representations in the academy.

Kanafani earned his PhD in civil engineering from UC Berkeley in 1969. One year later, he joined the same department as a faculty member. He holds the Edward G. and John R. Cahill Chair for Civil Engineering and co-directs the National Center of Excellence for Aviation Operations Research, a university-industry consortium funded by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Kanafani's research interests center on transportation planning and systems analysis. He was recognized by the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to national and international air transportation, the development of U.S. research on intelligent transportation, and the education of transportation professionals."

Papadimitriou received his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Athens Polytechnic and his PhD in computer science from Princeton University in 1976. He taught at Harvard, MIT, Athens Polytechnic, Stanford, and UC San Diego before joining UC Berkeley's computer science faculty in 1995. At UC Berkeley, he focuses on theories of algorithms and complexity and their applications to databases, artificial intelligence, and game theory. The associate chair for UC Berkeley's computer science division, he also holds the C. Lester Hogan Chair in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences.

The academy praised Papadimitriou for "contributions to complexity theory, database theory, and combinatorial optimization."

In addition to Kanafani, two other UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni were elected this year. Michael J. Carey, who received his PhD in 1983 in computer science and is a technical director at BEA Systems in San Jose, was noted for "contributions to the design, implementation, and evaluation of database systems." Apple Computer Inc. co-founder Stephen Wozniak, who received his BS in electrical engineering and computer science in 1986 and is chief executive officer of Unuson Corp., was recognized for "the invention and development of the first mass-produced personal computer."